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Thursday, September 30, 2010

In traditional media we measure the audience. We have OTS estimates, exposure estimates, and we track attitudes toward the content and behavioral response related to the exposures. Social media are media too but our assessments of audience and audience reactions are severely lacking. It's time for media research to include social media.

92% of retweets happen within an hour of the initial tweet – in other words, if it isn’t retweeted within the first hour, a tweet will likely go unretweeted (I feel a burning shame at even writing this non-word word).

Judging the platform, however, by how few (or many) individuals respond/react to tweets would be like “measuring” the engagement of the New York Times by how many people write letters to the Editor – or worse, judging the circulation of the Times by this measure.

This study gives you some new things to know, and I believe them. Here is what you don’t know about Twitter:

How many people had the “opportunity to see” a given tweet?

How many people actually saw a given tweet?

How many people saw a given tweet and could recall its message?

How many people recalled a message, and told a friend offline about it?

How many people saw a message and took some kind of offline action in response?

“Being is a matter of doing. Runners run. Fighters fight. If you want to be a copywriter, do what a copywriter does,” advises Dylan Klymenko, junior copywriter at Mullen. “Concept ideas for this space you’re interested in. Write up scripts for video content and then shoot it, edit it and put it on YouTube (who knows? Maybe you can make being a viral celebrity your back-up career).”

“When you go for jobs, people are going to want to see your work and you’d better have work to show. No one hires a junior or even a mid-level writer on the basis of ideas, chat and banter. You’ve got to show you know how to write, and ideally show that you can do this across different tones and purposes. Write your own briefs if you have to, but for God’s sake, write,” says Williams.

Not sure how to improve your digital presence? Williams advises, “Comment on blogs, join conversations on Twitter (), submit your work wherever you can. The web democratizes communication like nothing else. Want to be heard? Speak. Comment. Tweet. Be funny, be wise, be out there, be heard, be hired.”

2. Get Knowledge

It’s a cliche, but knowledge is power. Or in the case of a digital copywriter — fuel. In order to be successful, you need to know the product, your audience and the space which you’re writing for, intimately.

The only way you can do that as far as audience goes, says Trisha Brandon, a content strategist at iCrossing UK is to “get in there and be social to be relevant,” after all as she puts it “you’ll need more than the basics (age, gender, demographic) to really get it right.”

“Good writers know things. They find out interesting things out about products or services. Things that may be hidden on page 32 of a long brochure. Be curious about everything. Learn all you can about the product you’re working on. Go to the supermarket and talk to people who buy the product. Read the buff books. Use the product. Learn the language of the product,” says Tannenbaum.

3. Deal with Rejection

“Writing is an awesome job that will take you a million brilliant places,” says Williams. “Sure, lots of people want to be writers, but if you’re talented and dedicated to crafting your skills and developing your online brand, there’s no reason you can’t be one of them.”

Be prepared for the rejection theme to continue. Once you find your feet on the first rung of the copywriting career ladder, then the next round of rejection starts when your ideas, or copy — or both — will be rejected, either by colleagues, or clients, or both.

Knowing when to ditch an idea and when to push it further is something that will come with experience, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take on board advice on the topic.

4. Less is More

Crucial advice as far as your copy goes is the old adage “less is more,” especially in the online world where attention spans are ever-decreasing.

“‘Less is always more’ is good advice for pretty much any writing, but I think it’s particularly apposite when talking about digital copy,” says Lewis Raven, associate creative director at glue Isobar, an advertising agency specialising in digital creative work.

5. Write Well

“The principles of good writing remain the same, whatever sort of copywriter you are. Cliched metaphors, misplaced apostrophes and unnecessary jargon are just as depressing online as offline. Writing in a way your audience relates to is key to any good writing. If that means writing in a familiar, conversational manner and using the word ‘awesome’ a lot, so be it. Ultimately, to be a successful digital copywriter, you need to be a good copywriter in the first place,” concludes Smith.